Dry-cleaning apparatus



Dec. 24, 1929. A. TRAUBE DRY CLEANING APPARATUS Filed May 18, 1928 2Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR HER 7H4"! TRAUBE' ATTORNEY Dec. 24, 1929. TRAUBEDRY CLEANING APPARATUS Filed May 18. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VJINVENTORHBRHH/JM .TRAuBE;

BY r-C5 w ATTORNEY am; D... 241929 f j 1,740,716

UNI E STATES PATENT orrlca TRA'UBE, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TFABRIC DRY GLEANIlN'G IAGHINERY CO. INC 01: BROOKLYN, NEW YORKDRY-CLEANING APPARATUS Application filed May 18, 1928. Serial No.278,653.

This invention relates to dry-cleaning apis formed with supporting feet92, 93 and a paratus of the type described in the specificasight gage 94is provided on the end of the tion of my United States Patent Numberlower part 82 in order that therlevel of the 1,291,266 dated January 14,1919. solvent in the lower part of the casing may be 6 One object ofthis invention is to provide readily ascertained. In the upper-part ofimproved means for spraying the solvent the casing a vacuum gage 95 isprovided. upon the material carried in the rotor or The rotor abovereferred to comprises two drum. hollow ends or headers 96, 97 connectedwith A further object is to provide improved each other by acircumferential series of lon- 10 means for drying the material. 4gitudinal tubes 98 and blades 99 arranged al- Further objects will beapparent from the ternately. The header 96| consists of two particulardescription of the complete appadiscs 100, 101, and a spacing ring 102welded ratus and from the appended claims. together to form a steamspace, and the ends .The present invention consists in the novel of thetubes are expanded into holes provided 1 construction and arrangement ofparts herein the disc 101 and thus supply steam to said inafterdescribed, illustrated in the accomsteam space. Secured on the outerface of the panying drawings and particularly pointed disc 100 by meansof a flange 103 15 a hollow out in the appended claims, it beingundertrunnion 104 which communicates with the stood that various changesin the form and said steam space through a central hole 106 m 1 20details of construction may be made without the said .disc 100. Fittedbetween the dlscs departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of 100,101 are two radial plates or baflies 106, the advantages of myinvention. 107 extending from close proximity to the In the drawings:Fig. 1 isa front elevation said hole 105 to a point near the rmg 102 andof the dry-cleaning machine with part of the being curved from suchpoint to meet the casing and part of the rotor shown in section;curvature of the ring 102, and ad acent to the Fig. 2 is a view at rightangles to Fig. 1, with inner ends of the said bafiies 1s a cup-shapedthe casing and a portion of the rotor shown baflie 108 the arrangementof these baflies 106, in section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is107, 108 being such that, as the rotor rotates a central sectional viewof one end of the slowly in either direction, any condensed rotor; Fig.4 is a cross section taken on the steam will be raised by the baflies106 or 107 line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged and will bedirected to the opening 105 by the detail view showing a portion of therotor in bafiie 108 so that accumulatlon oiwater 1n the isometricprojection. header 96 1s avoided. llhe header 97 has a The casing of themachine consists of an hollowtrunmon' 109 simllar to the trunmon 35upper part 81 and a lower part 82 forming a 104 and the headers 96 and97 are s milar exhorizontal closed cylinder with longitudinal cept thatthe header 97 is not provided with connecting flanges 83 securedtogether by bafiles 106, 107, 108. Therotor is carried bebolts 84. Inthefront of the upper part of tween the ends of the casing 81, 82 by meansthe casing an opening 85 is. closed by a door 86 of bearing bushes 110,111 having roller bearhinged along its upper edge at 87 and engagings112 and the outer end of the trunnion ing upon a packing or flexibleseat 88 in order 104 is mounted 1n a bearing in a bracket 113 to securean air tight joint when secured in secured on the end of the lower part82 of-the the closed position by means of bolts 89 pivcasing, while theouter end pf the trunnion oted to the casing at and engaging slots or109 is mounted in a bearing 1n a bracket 114 recesses in the edge of thedoor. An overhead which is secured on the opposite end of the spray pipe35 has a series of branch pipes 91 said part 82. The steam pipe 44supplleS communicating with the interior of the casing steam to thehollow trunnion 109 and has a and arranged in a straight line directlyabove pressure gage 115 thereon, and the exhaust and parallel to theaxisof the rotor hereinsteam from the trunnion 1041s led oil by afterdescribed. The lower part of the casing means of a plpe connection 116.Completely 1 encircling the series of tubes 98 and blades 99 are twobands 117, 118 and between these bands a number of tubes and blades arecut away to provide an opening for the introduction and withdrawal ofthe clothing or other material to be cleaned, and two additional bands119, 120 extend around the rotor from edge to edge of such opening." Twodoors 121, 122 are hinged to the bands 117, 118 and have handles 119,120 by means of which they may be swung outwards when they are in properalignment with the opening 85 in the casing. I11 order to retain thesaid doors 121, 122 in the closed position against centrifugal forcewhen the rotor isrotating each door is provided .with means for engaginghooks 123 on the ends of the bands 119, 120. These means consist of apair of slide bars 124 each I provided with a shackle 125 to engage ahook 123 and nut and screw means 128 for drawing the two slide barstowards each other in order to hold the door securely in position. Eachslide bar 124 has a guide slot 126 engaging a pin 127 fixed to the doorto serve as guides for the door fastening means. 0

The blades 99 are secured in place by welding to the headers 96 and 97and to the bands 117, 118,119 and 120; and at intervals in the length ofthe rotor; plates or blocks 129 are provided, these parts 129 beingslotted to receive the blades 99 and being welded to the said blades 99and to the tubes 98 so that a rigid structure is provided. The blades 99.are radially disposed and while serving to strengthen and brace therotor structure they are alsoadapted to serve as deflecting vanes toreceive the solvent spray from the overhead spray pipes and direct sam'einwardly to the material contained in the rotor.-

Between the bracket 113 and the bearing ring 110, the trunnion 104 hassecured thereon a pulley 130 to which motion may be transmitted by meansof a belt 131 for the purpose of rotating the rotor at high speed toextract moisture from the materialin the rotbr. For the purpose ofrotating the rotor at low speed-in both directionsas in the cleaning andthe drying operations a large diameter I gear wheel 132 is secured onthe trunnion 109,

between the bearing ring 111 and the bracket 114 and is driven from asmall diameter wheel 133 through the medium of an idler pinion 134,mounted freely upon a shaft 135 and having a shift lever 136 by means ofwhich-it may be moved in an axial direction into or out of mesh with thegears 132, 133.

The gear wheel 133 is secured on a shaft 137 which is driven by a pulley138 to which motion is imparted by a driving belt 139 from any suitablesource of power and through the medium of suitable reversing meansnotshownwhereb v the rotor may be caused to rotate in either direction. Theshafts 135 and 137 are mounted between bosses 140, 141 on the upper part81 of the casing and bosses 142, 143 on an extension 114.

In the operation of this apparatus the clothing or other material to becleaned is placed in the rotor and the doors of the rotor and of thecasing are then closed and secured and after the proper manipulation ofthe appropriate valves solvent is supplied through the overhead supplypipe 35 and the inlet pipes 91 by the creation of a vacuum within themachine, and as the rotor is slowly rotated by gear 132 first in onedirection and then in the other the solvent is sprayed to the interiorof 144 of the bracket the rotor, being directed to all parts of thematerial as the rotor rotates and the vanes or blades- 99 deflect thespray inwardly to the interior of the rotor. In oertain cases thesolvent may be retained for a time in the machine so that the materialmay be rotated in a solvent bath having a level at approximately onethird of the height of the casing. After the completion of this cleaningoperation a further supply of solvent may be provided to rinsethe'material and the solvent drains from the machine through outlet 40and valve 41, while the vacuum in the machine is still maintained, andin order to extract the moisture from the material the rotor is thenrotated at high speed by the pulley 130 and belt 131 and all vapors aredrawn oif through the pipe line 37. After this extracting operationsteam is supplied through the steam line 44 and passes through the tubes98 to the trunnion 104 and to the exhaust pipe 116, and while the tubesare thus heated by the steam passing therethrough the rotor is againrotated slowly first in one direction and then in the other by means ofthe gear 132'. WVhen unloading the machine after the completion of theprocess as outlined above all pipe connections to the machine are closedexcept the valve 44 which is opened to destroy the Vacuum in the machineand thus permit opening of the door 86 in the casing.

Although the above description and the accompanying drawing describe andillustrate a practical embodiment of my invention, I do not desire to belimited to the details of this disclosure, for, in the practicalapplication of my invention, many changes may be made in form,construfition and operation, as circumstances may require or experiencemay suggest, without departing from the spirit of this invention withinthe scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, hollow-walled means inthe said casing for carrying the material to be cleaned, and means forspraying a cleaning solvent from the upper part of the machine on to thesaid material.

2. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, rotary-hollow-walled means inthe casing for carrying the material to be cleaned, a series -to saidspray pipes.

4. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, a hollow-walled rotor mountedin the casmg and carrying the materlal to be cleaned, a

, series of spray pipes arranged in a line parallel to the axis ofrotation of the rotor, and means for supplying solvent to the said spraypipes to spray the material to be cleaned.

5. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, a rotor comprising a circularseries of tubes mounted in the machine and carrying the material to becleaned, and means for spraying solvent upon the material in the rotor.

6. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing. arotor mounted in the machineand carrying the material to be cleaned, means for heating the walls. ofthe rotor to dry the material carried thereby, a row of spray pipes inthe upper part of the casing for spraying solvent upon the saidmaterial, and means for conducting solvent to said spray pipes.

7. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, a rotor comprising tubes forthe passage of heating medium and trunnions for the supply and exhaustof such medium, means for supplying solvent to the machine to cleanmaterial carried in the rotor, and means for rotating the rotor.

8. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, a rotor comprising an annularseries of tubes mounted to rotate within the casing about a horizontalaxis, a series of overhead spray pipes in the top of the casing arrangedin a line parallel to the axis of the rotor, means for supplying solventto the spray pipes to spray the material carried in the rotor andmeansfor rotating the rotor to ensure proper spraying of the material.

9. 11143, dry-cleaning apparatus, a casing, a rotor mounted to rotatewithin the casing about a horizontal axis, a row of overhead spray pipesin the top of the casing arranged in a straight line parallel to theaxis of the rotor, means for conducting solvent to the spray pipes,means for rotating the rotor at low speed, means for deflecting thespray to the interior of the rotor, and means for heating the walls ofthe rotor to dry material carried therein.

10. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a machine casing, a series of spraypipes for the supply of solvent in the top of the casing, and a rotorfor carrying the material to be cleaned comprising a pair of endheaders, a series of parallel tubes connecting said headers and formingthe side walls of the rotor, and apair of hollow trunnions mounted ontheend headers and carried in the end walls of the machine.

11. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a machine casing, means for sprayingsolvent into the interior of the casing, and a rotor for carrying thematerial to be cleaned comprising end plates, a circumferential seriesof parallel tubes, a series of parallel blades interposed between thetubes to direct the spray of solvent inwardly to the material in theinterior of the rotor, and end trunnions for supporting the rotor in theend walls of the machine. 12. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a machinecasing, overhead sprayv pipes for the supply of solvent to the interiorof the machine, and

a rotor for carrying the material to be cleaned comprising hollow endmembers, a circular series of tubes connecting the end members, vanesinterposed between the tubes to defiect the sprays of solvent to thematerial in the said rotor, end bearings for the support of the rotor,and means for conducting heating medium through the hollow end membersto dry the material in the rotor after the completion of the-sprayingoperation.

13. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a machine using, a series of overheadspray pipes arranged in a straight line in the top of the machine, and arotor mounted With its axis parallel to the line of spray pipes andcomprising hollow end discs, a hollow trunnion projecting from each ofthe end discs, 2.

circular series of tubes connecting the end discs and forming acylindrical wall for the rotor, vanes interposed between the said tubesand also connecting the said end discs, intermediate bands encirclingthe tubes and vanes,

and hinged doors in the said cylindrical wall.

14. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a machine casing, means for sprayingsolvent into the casing, and a rotor for carrying the material to becleaned comprising hollow end discs, a series of connecting tubes, meansfor conducting steam to one of the said discs and from the second discto exhaust, and means for facilitating the discharge of condensed steamfrom the second disc.

15. In a dry-cleaning apparatus, a machine casing, means for sprayingsolvent into the casing, and a rotor for carrying the material to becleaned comprising hollow end discs, hollow connecting means between thesaid discs, a hollow trunnion on each disc, means for conducting steamthrough the said trunnions, and baflles located in one of the said discsfor raising condensed steam to the level of the adjacent trunnion.

v ABRAHAM TRAUBE.

